Express (Toll) Lanes Coming to State Highway 71

The Texas Department of Transportation is moving ahead with plans to build tolled express lanes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport east to the SH 130 toll road.

The project was announced Thursday by TxDOT, the Texas Transportation Commission and State Sen. Kirk Watson.

Once it’s done, it could mean less congestion on 71, both for people paying the tolls on the new lanes to be built between and above the existing lanes and for drivers staying on the free frontage lanes.

According to the announcement, the project paid for in part through the SH 130 Concession Agreement will result in new lanes in each direction and managed lanes without traffic signals.

"Using private dollars to fund a large portion of the construction gives us the opportunity to dramatically advance this project from a long-term unfunded vision to a reality," Texas Transportation Commission chairman said in a statement. "Partnering with Central Texas transportation authorities and Senator Watson will mean a commute to and from the Austin airport without the headaches that drivers currently experience."

Construction of the Highway 71 project could start as soon as the end of 2014.

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It's been almost three weeks since the new stretch of State Highway 130 opened on Oct. 24 . Now the temporary freeway is officially a tollway. And that's how it's going to stay, for the next 50 years or so. The new segments of SH-130, which run just south of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to Seguin, were free to motorists until Nov. 11. Now the the toll rate has been set at $0.15 per mile for passenger vehicles with TxTag service . Vehicles without a TxTag can also use the tollway, and will be billed through a pay-by-mail service. "With this new road, motorists can travel 90 miles of toll road and bypass I-35 congestion between Seguin and Georgetown for about $12," the Texas Department of Transportation says in a press release.

The Texas Transportation Institute wants Austinites to fill out a survey about their use of toll roads and freeways. The Texas Legislature mandated TxDOT to have the survey done to evaluate the flow of traffic in the city. The survey asks about when, where and how much time you spend on area highways. TTI hopes to gather data that will help them find ways to encourage Central Texans to take toll roads.

Despite setbacks, State Highway 130 is still set to open in its entirety by November. The toll road will connect the North Austin area with Interstate 10, hopefully easing traffic on Interstate 35. But SH-130 was the victim of drought-induced damage to its structural integrity. Once-moist clay dried out and contracted, causing shifts in the ground underneath the asphalt and cracking the road on top. Parts of the 41-mile stretch of road between Mustang Ridge and Seguin need to be redone and preventative measures are being taken to keep the damage from reoccurring. SH-130 is being constructed by a private company, acting as a proxy for the Texas Department of Transportation . Chris Lippinpott is the spokesman for the State Highway 130 Concession Company, the organization in charge of the design, construction, finance, operation, and maintenance of the highway. Lippincott says the cost of the road will total nearly $1.325 billion.